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Neal Barnard

Neal Barnard, MD, is a clinical researcher, author, and health advocate. He has been the principal investigator or coinvestigator on several clinical trials investigating the effects of diet on health. He was a coinvestigator on a study, conducted in conjunction with Georgetown University, of the effect of dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes, and was the principal investigator of a study on dietary interventions in diabetes, funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted under the auspices of the George Washington University School of Medicine, in association with the University of Toronto. Dr. Barnard was also the principal investigator of a study assessing the effects of dietary interventions on premenstrual and menstrual symptoms and of a study on weight loss in postmeno interventions on premenstrual and menstrual symptoms and of a study on weight loss in postmenopausal women.

He is the author of dozens of publications in scientific and medical journals as well as numerous nutrition books for lay readers and is frequently called on by news programs to discuss issues related to nutrition, research issues, and other controversial areas in modern medicine.

Dr. Barnard s a frequent lecturer at scientific and lay conferences and has made presentations for the American Public Health Association, the World Bank, the National Library of Medicine, the Franklin Institute, the American Medical Writers Association, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and many state dietetic associations.

Dr. Barnard grew up in Fargo, N.D. He received his MD degree at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, and completed his residency at the same institution. He practiced at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York before returning to Washington to found the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in 1985. PCRM has since grown into a nationwide group of physicians and lay supporters that promotes preventive medicine and addresses controversies in modern medicine. As president of PCRM, Dr. Barnard has been instrumental in efforts to reform federal dietary guidelines.